Interventions for preventing obesity in children.

By C. Summerbell, E. Waters, L. Edmunds, S. Kelly, T. Brown, K. Campbell. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2005

2,594 citations recorded by the source corpus.

BACKGROUND Obesity prevention is an international public health priority. The prevalence of obesity and overweight is increasing in child populations throughout the world, impacting on short and long-term health. Obesity prevention strategies for children can change behaviour but efficacy in terms of preventing obesity remains poorly understood. OBJECTIVES To assess the effectiveness of interventions designed to prevent obesity in childhood through diet, physical activity and/or lifestyle and social support. SEARCH STRATEGY MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, CINAHL and CENTRAL were searched from 1990 to February 2005. Non-English language papers were included and experts contacted. SELECTION CRITERIA Randomised controlled trials and controlled clinical trials with minimum duration twelve weeks. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed study quality. MAIN RESULTS Twenty-two studies were included; ten long-term (at least 12 months) and twelve short-term (12 weeks to 12 months). Nineteen were school/preschool-based interventions, one was a community-based intervention targeting low-income families, and two were family-based interventions targeting non-obese children of obese or overweight parents. Six of the ten long-term studies combined dietary education and physical activity interventions; five resulted in no difference in overweight status between groups and one resulted in improvements for girls receiving the intervention, but not boys. Two studies focused on physical activity alone. Of these, a multi-media approach appeared to be effective in preventing obesity. Two studies focused on nutrition education alone, but neither were effective in preventing obesity. Four of the twelve short-term studies focused on interventions to increase physical activity levels, and two of these studies resulted in minor reductions in overweight status in favour of the intervention. The other eight studies combined advice on diet and physical activity, but none had a significant impact. The studies were heterogeneous in terms of study design, quality, target population, theoretical underpinning, and outcome measures, making it impossible to combine study findings using statistical methods. There was an absence of cost-effectiveness data. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS The majority of studies were short-term. Studies that focused on combining dietary and physical activity approaches did not significantly improve BMI, but some studies that focused on dietary or physical activity approaches showed a small but positive impact on BMI status. Nearly all studies included resulted in some improvement in diet or physical activity. Appropriateness of development, design, duration and intensity of interventions to prevent obesity in childhood needs to be reconsidered alongside comprehensive reporting of the intervention scope and process.

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Citations in the corpus

Behaviour change theory and evidence: a presentation to Government (2013, background): “(2) Persuasion: school-based programmes including attempts at persuasion have not been effective in reducing overeating in children (Summerbell et al., 2005); public service announcements have proved ineffective in reducing excessive alcohol consumption (Babor et al., 2003).”
Theories of behaviour and behaviour change across the social and behavioural sciences: a scoping review (2014, background): “While there are many examples of successful interventions, there are also examples of ineffective interventions (e.g., Coleman, 2010; Summerbell et al., 2005); for those that are effective, the effects tend to be modest, with significant heterogeneity of short-term and long-term effects (Michie,…”
Evidence for prescribing exercise as therapy in chronic disease (2006, background): “…effect on weight loss assessed as body weight, but has a good effect on fat mass and a good effect as regards maintenance of weight after a weight loss (Epstein & Goldfield, 1999; Rowlands et al., 2000; Campbell et al., 2001; Campbell et al., 2002; LeMura & Maziekas, 2002; Reilly et al., 2002).”
PRISMA-S: an extension to the PRISMA Statement for Reporting Literature Searches in Systematic Reviews (2021, unknown): ““We included [search strategies] used in other systematic reviews for research design [111], setting [112, 113], physical activity and healthy eating [114–116], obesity [111], tobacco use prevention [117], and alcohol misuse [118].”
Obesogenic environments: exploring the built and food environments (2006, background): “Obesity, once developed, is difficult to treat, and prevention programmes aimed at children and adolescents are considered a high priority as there is a high risk of obesity persisting into adulthood (71).”
PRISMA-Equity 2012 Extension: Reporting Guidelines for Systematic Reviews with a Focus on Health Equity (2012, background): “Third, they can assess effects of interventions not aimed at reducing inequity but where it is important to understand the effects of the intervention on equity, such as lay health workers [14] or obesity prevention in children [15].”
Evidence on the long-term effects of breastfeeding SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS AND META-ANALYSES (2007, background): “Concerning obesity, whereas Summerbell et al (184) reported that combined dietary education and physical activity interventions were not effective in reducing childhood obesity and overweight, we noticed that breastfeeding was associated with a 22% reduction in the prevalence of overweight/ obesity.”
Obesity in children and young people: a crisis in public health. (2004, background): “A Cochrane review of those trials of sufficient duration to detect the effects of intervention concluded that there was little evidence of success (14).”